


Lights and Stranger Places

by Khoshekh42



Series: Destiel Series [6]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Her name is Gwen, M/M, Original Character - Freeform, We're beginning to get more Sabriel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 10:38:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5202728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khoshekh42/pseuds/Khoshekh42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sam is almost killed by a rouge vampire, Gabriel steps in, and Sam gets sent to an alternate universe. Where Dean and Cas are married and have a daughter (adopted! No m-preg!). When Gabriel finally arrives to sort things out, things go a bit wrong. SPOILERS FOR SEASON 8. Rated T for Dean. And Sam. Probably Gabe too. Please R&R! Thanks!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The vampire was attacking Sam, teeth bared, blood dripping out of the corner of its mouth. It was able to quickly back him into a corner, Sam having lost his machete minutes earlier. Things seemed to be going in slow motion, with the vampire's teeth closing in on Sam's neck. Sam thought that his dying thoughts would be something profound, or at least meaningful. Instead, he thought something along the lines of, you really need to brush your teeth.

There was a blinding flash of white light, and Sam soon saw black as he passed out.

He woke up on a couch. A girl started to shout when he gave signs of waking up.

"Dad! Sam's waking up!" It was a teenage girl, and Sam sat up in alarm as he realized that she knew his name, "Who are you?" He asked, a certain mixture of grogginess, and suspicion. The girl just raised her eyebrow, and started shouting again, "I think he's got a concussion!" There were heavy footsteps coming from the hallway.

"Coming Gwen. Sam! How are you?"

"Dean!" A wave of relief washed over Sam. Dean was here. Dean would fix this. "Dean, who- what- I mean, what the hell is happening?" One minute this vamp is about to kill me, then there's this blinding flash of white light, I passed out, and I woke up on this couch. That… doesn't look like a crap motel." Dean was looking at him, concerned. "Sammy?" He asked, with a tone that might indicate he was talking to a young child. "You know who Gwen is, right?" The girl- who Sam supposed must be Gwen- was looking fairly concerned at this point too.

"I- no, Dean. I- should I?" Dean's brow furrowed with worry. "Uh, you know Cas right?" Sam was staring at Dean like he was crazy. "Of course I know Cas." Dean relaxed slightly. "Right. I'm gonna call Cas." He reached into his pocket to get his phone.

"But Dad. Cas is t-"

"Sweetie." Dean crouched down to look at her levelly. "Cas'll want to know about this." He hit a couple buttons on his phone and held it up to his ear.

"Hey, Cas. Yeah. No, I'm fine. So, uh, you know how Sam came in last night and crashed on our couch? Yeah, well, he woke up, and" Dean's voice wavered slightly. "He doesn't know who Gwen is. Yeah. He does. Listen, Cas, you don't have to come. I just thought that you might want to know. Seriously- Cas! You're teaching, you can't just abandon your class. No- you- fine. At least give them an explanation this time, and not 'I have to go fight a dragon.' Yes, I know it was truthful, Cas, but that's the problem. That's a terrible explanation and you know it. I know that they love you, they fawn over you. Just hurry up." The last sentence was stressed, and it was obvious that he meant that more than any of the teasing banter.

"What was his excuse?" Gwen asked, still concerned, but amused.

"That 'The brother of the l-'" Before Dean could explain further, they heard a car (the Impala, Sam was always able to distinguish that engine from any other car), and the familiar squeak of the door shutting. There was a key in the lock, and the door swung open.

"Sam!" Cas called, shutting the door with his foot. The first thing that Sam noticed about him, was that he wasn't wearing the iconic tan trenchcoat of his. He was wearing a suit and had chalk stains on the front of his pants. Suddenly, something Dean had said earlier caught up to Sam's strangely addled mind.

"Wait, teacher?" All eyes were on Sam, and Dean looked almost terrified now, "Yeah, Sam. He teaches at KU. He gets us all free into Jayhawk games." Now Sam was the one that was getting concerned. "Dean. I- I seriously don't know what's going on here. I don't know why Cas is a teacher, who Gw- Gwe… Hang on. Dad? She called you… Dad."

"Yeah, Sam." Dean felt like he was saying that a lot. Too much. "We adopted her. Or, took her in really."

"Wait… us? As in… us, or…" Sam sounded thoroughly flustered.

"No! Not us! No! It's not like you can with hunting and all."

"But… you're hunting too, right?" Sam sounded almost like a kid, thinking his parents will be with him on the first day of kindergarten.

"Sammy." Dean sounded almost apologetic. "Sammy, I have a kid. I've got a house, and I have a job." Cas nudged his shoulder, and Dean smirked, "And I have to take care of this one."

"Hey!" It was friendly banter, where neither really meant any of what they said.

Dean got serious again, "Really though, Sam. The only reason that we ever hunt again, is if you or Bobby tell us that you need help. Sometimes hunters that pass by will ask for help, and we'll give them any information they need, but I got out of the life, Sam."

"We had a party." Cas said solemnly.

"But…" Sam began, but not really sure where to go after that. "Dean, I seriously have no clue what's going on right now, I-" He was cut off again, and started coughing into his hand. When he took it away, there was blood on his hand, as always. He went to wipe it on his jeans, until Gwen caught a glimpse of it.

"Uh, you've got… blood. On your hand. Dad, why is Uncle Sam coughing up blood?" Gwen's voice wavered, and she looked worried for her uncle. Dean grabbed Sam's wrist to look at his hand. "What's this, Sam? How long has this been happening?"

"I don't know, since the second trial I guess. I mean, I felt like shit after the first. But I think it was after the second that I started getting- well, like this." Sam shrugged, as if it weren't a big deal.

"Sam." It was Cas now that spoke, just as concerned as Dean was. "What trials." Sam let out a nervous laugh. "Oh, you know, if you don't remember, to close hell?"

"What?" Dean stepped forward, "Close hell? How the he- how could you close hell?"

"The demon tablet? The three trials?"

"Tablets? The tablets? Metatron's tablets?" Cas seemed torn between figuring out more about what Sam knew about the tablets, and making sure that Sam was actually okay.

"Father?" Gwen asked, but she seemed to be addressing Cas now, "Why do you care about these stupid… tablet things? Is Uncle Sam okay or not?"

"Wait- Father?" Sam was reminded strongly of the Mystery Spot suddenly. "You're- you're." Sam started noticing several things all at once. Dean's hand on Cas's back. The gold bands on their left hands. The wedding photo in the background.

"Oh." For a moment, everything made sense. But, of course, that couldn't last for long. "Wait. What? You're not married!" The other three startled.

"Um, no offense Uncle Sam, but I really do think they're married." Gwen spoke up with a smirk from the back.

"So what," Dean said to Cas, "He's got amnesia now? His memory has been wiped?"

"Shit." Sam said, with no explanation. "Gabriel!" He shouted towards the ceiling. Dean looked concerned, "Sammy. Sammy, Gabriel's dead."

"What? No. He faked his death. Gabriel! You will come down here and explain this! Not that, I'm really complaining about seeing them like this, but that's not the point, just- Gabriel!" There was a fluttering of wings, and the Archangel himself was standing in front of them. "Okay." He said, slowly clapping his hands. "What gave me away?"

"What- what gave you away? What did you do to them?" Sam had stood up, glaring at Gabriel.

"What? What did I do to them? I didn't do anything do them. In fact, I've done my best to avoid all of you guys. I mean, I'm supposed to be dead. So… Yeah." He turned to Dean and Cas, "What's wrong with the Moose?"

"You're alive."

"Uh, yeah. I thought that you figured that out already. I mean, Samsquatch started calling. Anyway, I have to get back to killing someone, I was rather enjoying it." He disappeared with another fluttering of wings.

"So, trials, huh?" Dean went back to Sam, caring more about his brother's safety and health then the Archangel. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Sam didn't really think before he spoke, "Because I don't know you!" He shouted. Dean, Cas and Gwen were silent.

"No." Sam immediately corrected, realizing his mistake. "No, it's not like that." Sam sighed, burying his face in his hands, "I mean, I know you. Except Gwen, but Dean and Cas… Dean- you're- Cas- you're- you aren't a teacher."

The small family just stared at him. Dean stood, pulling his phone out for a second time. "I'm calling Bobby." Sam started coughing again.

"Hey, Bobby. Uh, no I'm fine. No, it's Sam. He's weird. He came in last night and crashed on the couch, and this morning he can't remember who Gwen is, and he's coughing up blood, and there's these trials, and trying to… I don't know, Bobby. Apparently Gabriel's alive, and Sam thinks he's got something to do with this. He's- apparently he's trying to close Hell- yeah, apparently you can. Just- just, come quick. Please. He's bad, Bobby." Dean threw the phone on the couch beside Cas and sighed. "What are we gonna do, Cas?"


	2. Chapter 2

The small group was silent. They sat, waiting for Bobby to arrive, with the same mindset that Sam had when Dean showed up at the beginning of the whole fiasco. That Bobby would fix this. He would somehow fix everything, and there would still be time for breakfast. He arrived sooner than they expected. He'd probably been speeding the entire way. "Hey Uncle Bobby!" Gwen said, standing up, seemingly trying to relieve some of the tension. Bobby nodded, "Hey Gwen." He turned to Sam, squinting his eyes, pausing for a moment. Sam cringed.

"What the hell are you thinking, boy? I know you're a hunter so you're practically suicidal, and I know you're a Winchester so you are suicidal, but what the hell are you thinking?"

Sam didn't have time to answer. There was a third fluttering of wings, and Gabriel appeared in front of Sam.

"Hey, Sam, alright! This is the right one! I think. Anywho, uh…" He looked around, "I am in the right place right? You two are definitely together, but- ha! Really, who knew there were so many different universes, right? Okay. Seriously guys. Say something. Is this a universe without speech? Oh Father, if it is, I would absolutely die here."

"And that's the Gabriel I expected."

"Oh good! You can speak!" Gabriel grinned.

"What the hell?" Dean didn't seem to be able to say anything else.

"Never mind." Sam didn't feel as bad for not explaining things now that he knew for sure that this wasn't his brother. "Gabriel. Can we go now?" Gabriel looked slightly sheepish. "Ah. About that. You see, I'm just about exhausted, and I think if I try to universe hop again in the next several hours, I might pass out when we get there. If you're lucky. If we're not… well, let's just say that I'd pass out between universes and then we'd pretty much be torn into an infinite number of pieces from being there for more than a fraction of a fraction of a millisecond." Sam blinked. "O… kay then. We definitely aren't leaving now then. When should you be recharged or whatever?"

"As I said, a couple hours or so."

"What the hell? Universe hop?" Dean asked

"Is this some weird Doctor Who Doomsday scenario?" Gwen asked, though somewhat skeptically. Gabriel laughed, and then thought about it a little. "I guess so. Sam was transported into this universe as to not get killed, just like Pete transported Rose to the alternate universe so that she wouldn't die. So… it is a lot like Doomsday. Except, no Daleks or Cybermen, and in this scenario I would be Pete, except I would totally be the Doctor. But Sam's totally Rose. Just as girly, and his hair is pretty much just as long as hers. If not longer." Gwen was smirking, "So if you're the Doctor, and Sam is Rose, do you two have some epic love story that you're not telling us about?" Sam's whole face went red (as red as the big red button that the War Doctor wanted), Gabriel laughed, but Gwen noticed a slight tinge of red around his ears.

"Nah. Sammy's just about in love with me as he was with the Trickster when I killed his brother. Anyway! If I'm going to be stuck in this universe, you guys might as well tell me, how did you two get together? I mean, tips would be appreciated, the pair in Sam-o's and my universe are a bit stubborn." Dean sat and stared at Gabriel. "No. Um no I'm not telling you anything until you explain to me what the hell is going on here." Gabriel laughed again, "Well, you see. Sam was going to get killed by this vampire,"

"I was, wasn't I?" Sam reflected, before furrowing his brow, "Wait. Were you just, like, watching me or something?"

"What?" Gabriel asked, confused, but Gwen could tell that he was hiding something again. The red had appeared at the back of his ears again. "Anyway, so Sam's about to get killed, and I came in, sent Sam to a different universe, I was basically just aiming for a universe in which you two were together, so I guess I succeeded in that. Uh, so I went around and tried to find this particular universe, and I went to some really weird ass universes, and I finally got to this one and… uh, that's all that happened. I'm hungry. Do you have food?"

"So you're telling me that I drove two damn hours, just to see this fool make a fool of himself" Bobby grumbled, "Thinking that there was actually something wrong with him?"

"Sorry." Gabriel apologized, and all of them could tell that he didn't really mean what he said. "But really, do you have any food? Because I could really go for some food right now." He stood up and started rummaging around in the Winchester's kitchen. Dean was quick to drag him back, "No. You are not raiding my fridge."

"Can't you just snap your fingers and have food appear in your hands?" Sam asked him curiously.

"Well, technically, yeah, but it'll drain a bit of my mojo, more now that I have so little. You know how when you have very little energy, it gets harder to do really simple things? Well, it's kinda like this. So I'm trying to conserve energy, a lot since I really doubt that we'll make it back to our original universe in one jump, and any little bit is great. So… yeah. Food?" Dean sighed, "No. I'm not giving you our food. You can have food when we have lunch."

"Fantastic. When's lunch?" Gabriel asked enthusiastically, flopping down on the couch that Cas was on. Cas looked at Gabriel's feet strangely (which were currently crossed on his legs).

"I don't know. One?" Gabriel glanced at the clock. "But it's only eleven!" He whined.

"Gabriel, stop complaining. You're not going to die because you don't have food this instant. You don't even need to eat." Sam told him, but he was smiling slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

After a while, Gabriel bullied them all into eating. He'd complained enough that Dean and Cas gave in and directed the group to the kitchen, and pulled out turkey and ham to make sandwiches. Gabriel immediately started piling as many things on his sandwich that he could reach, Sam laughed as he took a bite of his (much simpler) sandwich. "He's right, though. We don't know how you two got together." Sam motioned vaguely towards Cas and Dean, "We need tips." Gabriel nodded vigorously, still piling meat on his sandwich. Cas shrugged, "It really wasn't a big deal. I almost died in a battle against another angel, and Dean… reacted stronger than I thought he would." Gabriel sat up, thoughtful, abandoning his half sandwich. "Let's see. If we almost kill Cassie-boy…" Sam laughed, knowing that Gabriel would never do anything to purposefully put his little brother in any real danger. "Let's not do that, Gabe."

"Why not?" Gabriel whined, placing another piece of bacon on his sandwich. "It'd be fun." Sam just shook his head, still chuckling. Gabriel hummed thoughtfully, placing another slice of lettuce on his sandwich. Sam tuned to look at him expectantly, waiting for him to continue.

"Well," Gabriel eventually did go on, "If we pretend to kill him… do some sort of weird thing like Cassie's Mystery Spot thing…. Except revolving around Dean-o…"

"No." Sam cut in, shaking his head, "We're not going to be doing any Mystery Spot related things, and," There was a glimmer of something in Sam's eyes, "and there will no killing Cas okay? I thought we talked about this." Gabriel just looked disappointed again. He leaned back, trying to think of something else for Cas and Dean. Those two were just hopeless.

Gabriel obviously knew that they were in love. Their Mystery Spot proved that. Sam proved it when he came and told him. But the whole problem with that was that Dean didn't remember, and Cas was too stubborn. He probably went out of his way to assure to himself that Dean didn't actually mean any of it. Maybe he'd convinced himself that it was a trick of Gabriel's, and maybe he'd told himself that Dean wasn't even real. Gabriel didn't even know what Cas had tricked himself into thinking, but the point was that Dean didn't know about what had happened at the Mystery Spot, and Cas was ignoring it. If Sam knew then he'd probably try to get them together, but Gabriel didn't think that that was… romantic enough. Gabriel might put on an attitude, but on the inside he was romantic as hell. Not that hell was romantic. It was just an expression. No romance in hell. Unless something had happened between Cas and Dean when Cas was rescuing him from hell. That was always a possibility.

There had to be another way. There had to be another way to get them together.

And Gabriel would do just that.

Sam smirked at him, glancing down at Gabriel's sandwich, "I think you're going to need a bigger mouth." Gabriel looked down at his sandwich, which was bigger then his head. He grinned, and tried to pick it up, as it just fell apart in his hands. He snorted as he picked up a handful of meat and lettuce and bread. Sam shook his head, smiling.

*:*:*:*:*

Two hours later found Gabriel and Sam standing in Cas and Dean's living room with Gwen standing slightly nervously in the background, just wishing that her uncles could come back. Even though, technically, they were her uncles, they weren't her uncles. If anyone understood what that meant. Gabriel wished goodbye to the happy couple, telling them that he'd do anything within his power (Sam had cut in concernedly, saying that he wouldn't do anything within his power, just the legal non-harmful things) to get their Cas and Dean together.

"So Sam." Gabriel smirked, "Are you ready to get back?" Sam noticed how much Gabriel actually smirked. Sam nodded, somehow glad to get back to their pitiful life where Dean and Cas were still horribly sad and not together. And they had the trials to do. And basically their life was just a little shittier then it was here, in this universe. Gabriel nodded, tilting his head slightly and raising his hands as to ask if he was ready. Sam nodded in response. Gabriel placed two fingers to Sam's forehead. There was the same bright flash of white light that Sam had seen earlier. There was a peculiar pounding in his head and he was lying on an uncomfortable bed.

For a minute, he thought he was back at one of their bad motels. But then the alarm rang, and Sam opened his eyes. And he was back in college.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sam! Saaaaam! You've gotta get up, seriously, usually I'm the one that you have to wake up. Really, come on. Um… Right, if you'd stop staring at me like I'm some sort of weird ass, then we could both go to our separate classes- I swear, why you decided to take sociology, I have no effin' clue. Right, your still staring at me like we're both weird asses… Sammy? You okay?" Sam was staring. He was staring at the man that he'd thought had just brought him back to- crap. Wrong universe again wasn't it? Just had to wait for his normal Gabriel to come and pick him up in this universe. He could get away with this, just pretending that this was all totally normal. "Oh, uh, yeah, sorry. It's all fine… Just weird that you actually woke up before me." Gabriel grinned, "No duh! I'm not the weird dude that wakes us at like, five to exercise and study." Sam laughed, slipping easily back into the fun banter that came from college, "Yeah, Gabe, sometimes it's very easy to tell that you don't exercise or study." Gabriel looked mock shocked, "How dare you. I… okay yeah I don't do either of those things, but that's not exactly the point. I get good enough grades, and I'm not overweight." Gabriel said this all while Sam got ready, and started to head out the door. Thankfully, it was still Stanford, and Sam actually had taken the sociology course. The teacher had been a nice man, short with curly brown hair. Obviously he was short to Sam, but he was actually a shorter man from other (more average height) people.

Sam walked into the familiar classroom, seeing the teacher up at the front of the room comforted him strangely. Made him feel as if everything wasn't completely screwed up in his life anymore. He saw a couple people that he recognized (both from his time at college and from his own normal universe). There was Cas, and there was Brady sitting over there. Sam ground his teeth. He focused on his paper, trying not to think about Brady.

He finished with his sociology class, leaving, forcing himself to say hello to Brady when he waved over happily. He met up with Gabriel in their dorm room during break. Gabriel (unsurprisingly) was eating some piece of candy. He waved to Sam, not looking up from his phone.

"Shouldn't you, I don't know, be studying?" Sam smiled, setting his bag down on his bed. Gabriel looked at him like he was crazy. "You kidding, Sasquatch? I love ya, but geez! Studying is not something you will see me doing. Studying." Gabriel snorted and went back to scrolling. Sam blinked, still trying to comprehend one particular part of Gabriel's response. There was a soft flapping behind Sam and he jumped, spinning around and tripping over his feet, and falling over. There were to people laughing at him, and Gabriel snorted again. "Sammy, I swear to my secret candy stash, you will never be able to stand on your own two feet." At the same time, an amused voice from behind (and above) Sam spoke, "Sammy, really? I appear behind you, and you just fall over? That's just pathetic." The two people stare at each other. The Gabriel that was standing behind Sam muttered, "Shit." He grabbed Sam's shoulder, pressed a finger to the other Gabriel's forehead, and vanished again.

*:*:*:*:*

Sam woke up again, stretching out his muscles looking around, concerned, hoping that he was back in his universe. He blinked and looked around properly. Damn it. There was no way that this room was one of the crappy motel rooms that they would always sleep at. It was a nice room, and it had things in it that wouldn't be in a motel room, such as a bookcase that he could see had several of the books were favorites of his. So it was probably some house of his own. He wasn't too sure what this universe would end up entailing for him, so he stood up cautiously to look around. There were typical homesy things around the place, and he found a business card for himself. He was a lawyer. He smiled slightly, and continued searching his own home for clues about what this universe had in store. Soon, he found a photograph, and it was only after that he realized the gold band that had seemingly magically appeared on his hand. Jess. He'd married Jess. He got the inspiration to find his phone, and he started looking through the contacts. He didn't even see Dean in any of the names. He found several of his college friends, and (to his relief) Brady was not one of them. On a whim, he searched Brady's name in the 'Search the Web' engine, and came up with several things. He clicked on the first one. He scanned the article. Apparently he'd been accused of murder. Sam, evidently, had been his lawyer. And completely believed that he was innocent. Sam exited out of the webpage with another sigh. He wasn't sure that he completely liked this universe. His only option, that he could see at this point, was to wait around for Gabriel to arrive.

After he hadn't arrived after another ten minutes, Sam was struck with another realization. He pulled out his phone to the contacts again. He scrolled down to the J's until he found Jess's name. He clicked on it, and pressed the 'Call' button. Jess picked up, "Sam? Is anything wrong?" Sam grinned, tears pricking at his eyes. "Everything's fine. I just wanted to hear your voice." He could hear Jess smiling on the other end. She laughed (Although it was more of a giggle), "You're adorable, you know that? I was thinking, we should have dinner tonight. That nice Italian place you like."

"That sounds wonderful, dear." Sam started scribbling it down on a sticky note, so that the actual Sam in this universe would know.

"And Sam, the doctor called, and he said that we shouldn't worry about my mother's health issues, it shouldn't be genetic and pass down to any grandchildren of hers. As long as I don't have the same issues. And I obviously don't." It took a second for Sam to realize what she was saying. "Oh my God." He laughed and pressed his hand to his mouth. He was having children. Maybe this wasn't such a bad universe. "Oh my God." He laughed again. He suddenly realized that Gabriel was standing behind him.

"Love you, sweetheart. See you at dinner."

"Love you too." She hung up, and Sam set down the phone.

"So what was that about?" Gabriel Sam grinned, "Jess. That was Jess." He held up his hand, to show the Archangel the golden wedding ring around his finger. Something flickered in the other man's eyes, but couldn't identify what the emotion was. "Come on. Let's go." Gabriel placed a hand on Sam's shoulder again, flying him off to what Sam hoped was his own universe. Even though he kind of liked seeing what there was to see in these different places.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam sighed, until a low baritone voice cut into his thoughts. He recognized it immediately, and he froze with bone-deep terror

"Made in heaven. Made in heaven. It's all meant to be." Sam's eyes grew wide, and he turned pale to the source of the voice.

"Well, you seem surprised to see me Sam. Not much of a surprise, though, I've been tailing you for just over a year." The Devil smiled.

Sam's breathing became heavier as Lucifer's eyes bore deeper into his soul. Literally. Sam had become much more aware of his soul after (not so) briefly losing it. He could feel it, as a certain warmth that he could feel icing over as the man who had once possessed him stared into it.

Souls

Such a strange concept. Sam couldn't quite understand why he was so interested in them, just now, of all times. Lucifer smiled, and Sam could feel chilled tears pricking his eyes. Suddenly all semblance of amusement left Lucifer's face, "No. No, you're dead. I killed you." His voice wavered as Lucifer wondered whether a hallucination could be hallucinating. It was fairly impossible, for all he knew. Sam let out a breath of relief. Gabriel. He was going to be okay, he was going to go back to a saner version of reality. Gabriel touched the back of his head (there was a strange sensation of warmth that washed over Sam), and vision went black again.

Sam woke to more singing, and his heart clenched horribly again.

"Rise and shine, Sammy!"

"No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no." He didn't want to think of this. This was one of the things that he'd been trying to avoid thinking of for the past who knew how long. He didn't want to think of Gabriel as 'The Trickster'. He stood up, walking mechanically out of the room, and to the diner, leaving Dean behind, to shout at him and ask where he was going.

He'd seemed so young. There was a light in his eyes that had died with him that first time. It only ever really came back whenever Cas was around, or after something explicitly normal happened that really made them feel like family again. Sam sat down next to the man eating pancakes.

"Hey, Gabe." The man jumped, and stared at Sam (deep, into his soul, just like his brother had just a half an hour ago. Although this time, it wasn't so chilling. So terrifying).

"Alright, hotshot, how did you know who I was?"

"What? Oh, right, I'm not supposed to know your name yet. Sorry. Timelines." Sam's voice felt just as mechanical as he felt. Like a robot, repeating the same actions day after day after day. It was amazing how quickly he'd found himself in that routine that he'd cast off years before. Forgotten even. Although, he did figure that if you heard the same things every day for over a hundred days, those things probably would engrain themselves into your brain. Apparently not even death (on multiple occasions) could wipe them away.

"Timelines, huh?" Trickster-Gabriel had spoken up and Sam turned calmly towards him, "Yeah, not really time travel, but sort of. Universe hopping really. You know. One place Dean and Cas are together- not that you know who Cas is- well you do, but you don't realize it, the next Jess isn't dead, Lucifer's…" He trailed off, with a slight shiver remembering the torture he'd been through. Gabriel's (or whatever) eyes bulged, "Lucifer? And just what the f-"

There was a jingle that told them that the door opened.

"Sammy!" He ran up to Sam, "You okay?" Sam nodded, rather nonchalantly. Gabriel turned to look at his double. "Re- really? Really, Sam? Come on, this guy?"

"Okay, hold on a minute." Gabriel/Trickster/Sam didn't even know what to call them in his head anymore.

"You either, are me, or my vessel. Which is pretty much impossible, so, what the hell?"

"Listen," Sam spoke up, "I think that we should probably deal with this outside, I wouldn't want to know what someone would do to us if we start talking about this in here. We'll..." He trailed off as Dean burst in through the door. Gabriel (the one that Sam knew, not Trickster Gabe) quickly concealed himself as a taller man with red hair. Dean looked concerned, and walked over. "You okay Sammy? You kinda ran out of there." Sam grit his teeth, trying to force all of the images of Dean dying out of his mind. He couldn't. Gabe (Not Trickster) suddenly, grabbed Dean's midsection, and dragged him backwards, just moments before a sharp knife flew through the air, just where Dean's head had been moments earlier. Sam breathed a momentary sigh of relief. He wasn't, as he thought he had been, so accustomed to his brother's death. Dean blinked a couple times. "Thanks, dude." He smirked, "Never woulda thought that that'd be how I'd eventually go out, right Sammy?" Dean obviously expected Sam to laugh. Sam did not laugh. Dean stopped smiling, looking down to the counter uncomfortably. "Well." He said cheerily (if not a little strained) "I'd love one of those Pig in a Pokes that they've got as the breakfast special today." Sam sighed, "Yeah, Dean, let's get you breakfast before you absolutely pass out on the floor. Because you obviously need more energy." Gabriel snorted. Dean glanced at him suspiciously, glancing at Sam, trying to silently communicate with him and ask him whether he knew-

"Listen, guy, what's your name?"

"Me?" Gabriel tried to ask innocently, but Sam could detect the overlaps of panic in his voice. "Me, I'm Michael. Michael Corner." Sam had to force himself not to roll his eyes at the blatant Harry Potter reference. And at how utterly oblivious Dean was. Actually, that last one really more made him want to hit Dean. And give him a Harry Potter book. But Sam digressed, pulling himself back into the present and into the conversation. Dean's suspicions seemed to have vanished (or at least subsided for now) as he asked Gabriel (who he thought was Michael) to come over to their booth and eat breakfast with them, on Dean. Gabriel (Michael) enthusiastically agreed. His only condition was that his good friend Gabriel over here could come with him. Trickster-Gabe didn't appear to like being called 'Good friend' by Michael-Gabriel. Dean shrugged, agreeing, while Sam braced himself for a huge disaster. He was beginning to itch to get back to his own universe. Both Sam and Dean headed for the table that they normally went to. Gabriel grabbed the Trickster's wrist as he went to go follow the Winchesters. He turned, angrily confused. "What the hell?"

"Listen." Gabriel snarled at him, "How long have you trapped Sam here?" Trickster-Gabe wilted a little, "It's been a little over two years now. But he still doesn't get it." Gabriel seemed to shake with anger. As soon as we leave, you allow one day so that Sam can forget what happened today, you wipe his memory of a good ninety percent of those days, and you get him to realize what the hell you are doing." Trickster-Gabe looked taken aback, "And why?"

"Listen, guy. In the future, I tell them. I tell them about me, that I'm Gabriel, I tell them about Loki, and I- I stood up to our brother for them. I stood up to my brother and I nearly died. I let Lucifer stab a double of me with a blade. For them. So that they could get out of that Godforsaken hotel alive. So do this, and tell Sam what you're doing." Gabriel's voice was shaking with anger and, if he wasn't mistaken, probably with the slightest bit of fear too. Trickster-Gabriel nodded slowly, "Okay. Fine, you seem to trust them. I'll do it." He paused a moment, "Now can we eat?" Gabriel's glare slowly melted away, and he released his firm grip on the Trickster. There was a mark that was sure to bruise on his arm in the shape of Gabriel's hand. They walked over to the table that Sam and Dean were sitting at. Sam looked at them oddly, but if he'd heard anything, he didn't comment on it. The waitress came back, (Dean had ordered his Pig in a Poke) and Sam's hand stuck out automatically to catch the hot sauce bottle that had fallen off of the tray.

"Thanks!" The waitress looked at him appreciatively. Sam looked at it for a minute, without putting it back on the table. Without warning he dropped it on the floor. He didn't blink. Dean looked taken aback, "Sam? What's going on with you?" He stared at him for a few more seconds before sighing, "Never mind." He stood up to help the waitress clean up the hot sauce bottle. When, for just a minute, both the waitress and Dean were gone, Gabriel grinned. "You know what we should be talking about?" Sam looked to him, hoping that he had an option for getting them back.

"We should be talking about how short your hair is." Trickster-Gabriel stared at Gabriel like he was insane, "Short? Are you kidding me? His hair is freaking nearly shoulder length!" Gabriel laughed, "No, trust me, for future Sam, this hair is short." Sam was looking at his hair in a reflection on the table, smiling lightly. "It really is shorter." He looked up at Gabriel, "Right." The mood at the table instantly shifted, and everyone became serious. "Gabriel, we need to get back. Soon, too. Who knows what's going on back in our proper place." Sam coughed into his hand, and Gabriel face softened into an expression of resigned worry. Sam waved it off, wiping his hands on the napkin on the table, "I'm fine." The Trickster (Was that really what Sam was going to call him? Even though he knew that his real name was Gabriel? Although, really, his Gabriel was sitting next to him, worrying about Sam's trial-sickness). Dean walked up, and everyone at the table became hushed and stopped talking. Dean didn't sit down. "Right…" He drew out the word. "There's something going on here. What's going on Sam?" He turned to Sam, though he knew that there was a good chance that Sam wasn't going to tell him what was going on. Sam sighed (again), and turned to Gabriel, "I don't see why we shouldn't tell him. It's not like he'll remember it tomorrow- or… today- whatever it is." Gabriel shrugged, "Right, Buck-o, you can sit here, just don't interrupt our conversation. Kay? Great." Dean sat down, if not suspiciously looking at Trickster-Gabe. Trickster-Gabe shrugged to indicate that he had no clue what was going on.

"Right." Gabriel said definitively, "I'm gonna go back to my usual face, because this one's just draining what left I have." Sam nodded, somewhat concernedly, not sure how Dean was going to react.

"Oh, Buck-o? If you'd ever bothered to pick up a book, you'da realized that Michael Corner's not exactly me. I'm Gabriel. That guy, well he's Gabriel too. But that's beside the point, because we're going to ignore that guy for now." Gabriel was motioning vaguely towards Trickster-Gabe. Gabriel's face and posture melted into his normal vessel's form. Dean stiffened.

"Dean," Sam warned, "Before you get angry we can explain, okay? He's on our side. You just have to trust me on this one, okay? And please let us have our conversation." He turned towards his now normal short and honey-haired friend. "You said you needed to conserve power, you're running out again?" Gabriel looked frustrated, and nodded, "Yeah. The less I have, the less likely I am to go to the right place, which will make me take longer, which will only drain even more mojo." Sam looked thoughtful, staring down into the coffee that he'd ordered, and never drank. "How far away are we?"

"It's not really a judge of time really. It's more… Wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey stuff?" Sam knew it was both an attempt to explain and to make Sam laughed. He did, laugh (not explain… but still he did at the same time. Nothing about it made sense), although he did so in a tired sense. Really, he just wanted to get back to the bunker. Sam rubbed his face, "Right. So how do we recharge your batteries?"

"Besides just sitting and waiting? Nothing that I know." Gabriel sighed, looking down at the table.

"So, just wait here?" Sam asked, voice strained.

"I don't know, how bad is this place? Better than the… some of the other ones, I guess. But if you want to take the chance that the next place will be better, then we can go ahead and try, but… I guess we could just sit here and wait. I could go to the next place, I could sit here. Whatever you want." Sam shrugged, "We should probably just stay here, I wouldn't want you to completely drain your power. It isn't… too bad here." Sam sighed, and put his head down onto his arms on the table. His whole body started wracking with coughing. Dean looked at him, worried, scared almost. Because he thought that he was supposed to die first. He'd made the deal to save his little brother, and if he died now because there was obviously something seriously wrong with him… Dean didn't really want to think about it. "You okay Sammy?"

"Yeah." Sam wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Gabriel appeared to be clenching his teeth. Sam looked at him assertively, and huffed softly, "What?" Gabriel looked somewhat hurt, "Sam…"

"What? If you have something to say to me just say it. You get like this every damn time I start coughing, and I don't know why. " Dean seemed a bit taken aback by Sam's sudden outburst

"Why?" There was no doubt now that Gabriel looked hurt by Sam's words. "Why? I've been alive for millennia and I have never gotten closer to any human than I have to you Winchesters. You especially cause Dean still seems to hate me about the whole Mystery Spot deal here, yet you who I tortured there have forgiven me wholly and completely. I would without a single doubt call you my friend, Sam, and when you ask me why I care that you are dying, I think I have reason to get a tiny bit pissed off!" Gabriel was shaking, but whether it was from anger, or fear, or because he was about to cry nobody was quite sure.

"But why do you care, Gabe? I'm doing this to close Hell forever, I'm doing this so that maybe some lives will be saved, I'm doing this so that I can maybe feel a little less like my life is a complete waste and that I've done nothing but bad in my life. I'm the boy with the demon blood."

"Is that really how you still see yourself? After you have done so much good with your life? You who was so selfless that you threw yourself into the deepest part of Hell to save the word-"

"To undo what I'd done."

"To save the world. You who when my brother spent all of his time in the cage thinking about what he'd do when he got out, and you were able to ruin his entire plan by caring about your family more than anything else in the world? And you think that you are still just the boy with the demon blood? Because believe me, you are so much more than that." Gabriel had a look of determination on his face, and several tears running down his cheeks. "Sam," He continued, "You're my friend. Please. Don't do this. Don't act as if your life doesn't matter." Sam sighed softly, running out of steam. "I'm sorry." Gabriel quietly wiped the tears from his eyes and face. "Right. I'm going to go up to you guys hotel room, so that I can get some sleep and recharge some of my batteries. Then we can leave sooner. Dean, try not to get yourself killed while I'm gone." Gabriel snapped at him, and stalked off, back up to Sam and Dean's hotel room. Sam restrained himself from sighing for the trillionth time. He held back from crying. Because of course he could screw it all up. Of course he could. They were having a great time while Gabe was trying to get his mojo back up to 100%, and Sam just to snap at him. Trickster-Gabriel was being awfully quiet. Sam looked to him. He looked like he was trying to process a lot of complex information in a very short amount of time (which was true). He turned towards Dean, who appeared to be in some sort of daze. Sam looked at him pointedly, "So yeah. If you couldn't tell from that conversation, I'm not exactly from here. I mean, there was this whole thing with a witch, and, well… I got sent to this whole other universe, where you and Cas where married and had a teenage daughter, and-"

"Wait a minute, me and Cas? Cassie?"

"No. Not Cassie, Castiel, he's an-"

"He?!" Dean jolted so badly that he knocked his knee on the table. Trickster-Gabe (Could Sam call him Gabriel now that Gabriel-Gabriel had left to go and recharge? It still wasn't really right, because Trickster-Gabriel really wasn't the Gabriel that he knew. But, once again, Sam digressed) sniggered. Dean didn't seem to notice, he was still looking at Sam with bug eyes and mouth ever so slightly agape. "I'm not… gay, Sam." Sam rolled his eyes, "God knows I know that. The number of random women you've slept with, and flirted with. There's something called bisexuality, Dean." Dean opened and closed his mouth without saying anything. Fishlike, almost.

"So, uh," Dean coughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "What's this 'Cas' guy like?" Sam grinned. "Ha. But, uh, he's nice. Yeah, uh… he always wears this tan trenchcoat, with a blue tie that's always backwards, which you take every excuse to fix." Dean blushed red behind his ears and at the back of his ears.

"He always sneaks up behind you and says, 'Hello Dean' and you'll jump, and turn around and look down at him and tell him something along the line of 'Cas, I've talked to you about personal space.' And then you'll stare at him, into his eyes. And every time I try to bring it up, you start blushing just like you are now." Dean just started blushing even deeper. Sam smirked at his brother's embarrassment. Gabriel (Trickster) was nearly on the floor from laughing.

"Cassie? Ohh! Aa! That's just hilarious! Little Cassie, leader of his garrison… He fell in love with Dean Winchester, who was the man to be his charge. He fell in love with the Righteous Man. Oh! This is too good." Sam was laughing too now, and Dean had turned bright red.

"So, uh, how do you know this… Cas person?" Dean was directing the question towards Trickster-Gabriel. He looked a little uncomfortable, "He's, uh, kinda my brother."

Dean's mouth hang gaped open for a long while. "Riight… so I fell in love with a Trickster?" Sam laughed heartily at the worry in Dean's voice. "No, Dean, you didn't fall in love with a Trickster." The look that Dean then gave Sam just made him crack up even more.

"But… I don't…"

"Might as well tell you, cause it's not as if your even going to remember this at all. See, Trickster dude over here's not really a real Trickster. He's actually a bit of an Angel of the Lord. Archangel. The Archangel Gabriel. Who, I might say, is my favorite of the lot. I mean, there's Michael, who's… well, let's just leave it at I didn't really like him. I don't think I should even have to mention Lucifer. And, well, Raphael- who you call Teenage Mutant Ninja Angel." Dean laughed at his own lame joke. Sam just rolled his eyes and chuckled over how predictable Dean was- whether he was in his own universe or not. "But anyway Raphael kinda ended up fighting Cas over who would rule Heaven after the Apocalypse, so… That was kind of… well let's just say that there was a bit of a mishap, we ended up putting a little too much trust in Crowley, my Hell Wall that Death made was torn down and a crap load of shit came in from Purgatory." Sam had kind of forgotten that Trickster-Gabe (he still wasn't calling him Gabriel even though Actual-Gabriel had left the room) was still there, but when he'd said 'Purgatory' he had let out some sort of weird groan, and he said, "No… Not the Leviathans." Sam nodded grimly, "Crowley found some other guy to help him open it, since Cas backed out. But everyone got out okay. No one's claiming to be the 'New God' anymore so that's great." He let out a somewhat shaky laugh, but no one seemed to notice. Except, apparently-

"Sorry." Sam turned to find Gabriel standing behind him. Sam smiled softly, "Na, Gabe, it wasn't your fault." Gabriel shrugged. "I'm nearly fully charged, ready to go?" Sam nodded, and Gabriel- once again- reached out and touched Sam's forehead.


	6. Chapter 6

Sam was jolted into their next destination, silently hoping that it'd be where they actually wanted to go. But as he saw all of these different places, he really managed to remember how simple life used to be. No trials, no Angels and demons. This is what went through Sam's head in the spilt second before he arrived in the new universe.

As soon as he woke up, he knew that something was horribly, horribly wrong. He sat up, trying to assess his surroundings. He furrowed his eyebrows, and looked down. Sam let out a terrified, panicky high-pitched screech. The form on the other bed jolted upright. "Sammy?"

But no, that couldn't be right.

"Sammy, are you okay?" Sam turned to look at the voice. No, because only Dean was allowed to call him Sammy (Because he couldn't really stop Gabriel, could he?) But there was no way that this was Dean. But, he supposed, he really had no way to know what was possible in alternate universes. It was still weird though. It was still very weird.

"Sorry…" Sam began, "Dean." The voice was strangely high-pitched, where Sam wasn't quite used to it yet. He glanced down again, then looked straight ahead of him. He knew that Dean had told Charlie to just imagine that the one man had boobs, but this was ridiculous. Sam wondered vaguely whether Gabriel did this on purpose. He (Now that Sam thought about it, should Sam think of himself as a she? No, this was just too weird. Although, he (she (dammit)) supposed that he couldn't really help it now that he'd had that thought. Damn.) Sam really hoped that this was one of those places that Gabriel came back to quickly. He didn't like this. Dean (Deanna?) was still staring at him. "Sammy? You, uh, kinda screamed. Are you okay?" Sam looked at her (Urgh. Her.) She (No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Sam was a HE, however… feminine he seemed to be right now.) nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine." Sam winced at HIS voice. HE sounded almost stupidly like HE was trying to make HER (No, wait, what?) voice lower. "Just, just a dream." Ha. Like that was true. This is a freaking living nightmare. Sam blinked (Should Sam just start referring to Sam as Sam? Just to make things for Sam just a little less complicated. Well, Sam supposed that Sam could try that).

"A nightmare?" Dean(na) looked concerned, "What is this one about?" Sam panicked internally. Sam hadn't taken the effort to actually come up with a legitimate nightmare that Sam could've had. "Trials." Sam blurted out, before thinking about whether Sam in this universe would be going through the same shit that Sam was going through in Sam's universe. Dean(na) nodded, staring down at… (Crap. He or she? Just. Dean(na). There. Sam'd go with that.) Dean(na)'s hands awkwardly. Sam (Wait. Dean(na) obviously hadn't reacted to Sam calling Dean(na) Dean. So Dean(na) in this universe was still just called Dean. So instead of referring to Dean(na) as Dean(na), Sam could just refer to Dean(na) as Dean. Okay. That was easier) bit Sam's cheek as Sam looked at Dean.

"I really am fine, Dean." Dean looked up, with furrowed eyebrows, "But you obviously aren't, Sam. You're obviously sick, and… I don't know if you're going to get better." Now Sam was the guilty one. Sam didn't want to be the one to tell Dean that, definitively, Sam wasn't going to get better after the trials. Sam coughed lightly, and Sam could taste metal in Sam's mouth. The taste of blood didn't really bother Sam anymore. Between being a hunter, and the whole Trial deal, Sam had coughed up blood more than could possibly be considered healthy. (Not that coughing up blood is healthy in general). Sam looked around the strange hotel room. Sam kept expecting for Gabriel (At least he could think of Gabriel as a 'he'… Unless Gabriel was… Gabrielle in this universe. Oh no… Well, sticking to calling Gabriel Gabriel in this place too. Great…) to show up, and start positively howling at Sam's state. Female, that was. Sam sighed (Sam seemed to be doing that a lot), running Sam's hands through Sam's hair (Which was up in a ponytail, and longer than even the average girl's hair length was). Sam tried to do anything but look at Dean, or think of Sam's sudden… predicament (Still not a girl. Sam repeated the mantra in his head, trying to convince Sam's self that Sam was not any more feminine than Sam usually was). Sam quickly decided that there was no way in hell he was telling Dean about this when Sam finally got back. Sam suddenly heard laughing (gleeful cackling, really) from behind Sam. Sam sighed. Sam was really beginning to wonder if Gabriel was doing all of this on purpose. Sam decided that it probably wasn't, just judging by the universe with Gabriel's own brother.

"Sammy!" Gabriel choked out between laughing fits. Dean appeared to be pouting (Between the suspicion of the fact that some random person just appeared in the middle of the room, and started randomly laughing at Sam) about this person calling Sam 'Sammy'

"Gabe." Sam growled, "Stop laughing."

"Oh no," Gabriel gasped ecstatically, "I'm not just laughing at you Samantha, " Sam growled again

"Samantha. I'm laughing at Ms. Deanna too here, ya know." Now Dean was all out glaring at the strange 'Gabe' person who'd appeared in the middle of their hotel room. Gabriel sighed, grinning from ear to ear. "So, Sammy, This one's actually pretty close. I mean, timeline wise and all that shit is all the same, but, uh," Gabriel giggled.

"Fine, fine!" Sam interrupted grumpily before Gabriel could state the obvious, "Just get me back, 'kay?"

"I dunno, Sam, you look very pretty here as you are, don'tca think?" Sam gave Gabriel one of Sam's better bitchfaces. Gabriel chuckled, but nonetheless rested Gabriel's hand on Sam's head. Gabriel kept Gabriel's hand lying there for a few moments, just smirking to Gabriel's self.

"Gabe, could you not?"

"But your hair, Sam. It's long. Longer than your own long flowing locks!" Gabriel looked very amused over Sam's expression, which said that Sam was so done with this. The bright light consumed Sam again.

When Sam woke up this last time, and he knew. He knew that he was back. He knew that that he was, well, he. Sam sat up, and looked around. It was the room that he was staying in at the Bunker, so that was definitely a good thing. Although it could technically be some weird place where… Sam told himself not to think about Alternate Universes, and all the possibilities that they held. (Of course, when someone tells you not to think about pink and purple polka dotted elephants, one tends to think of purple pink and purple polka dotted elephants). Sam wondered back to when Balthazar had pushed them through the spell to the alternate universe where he was the 'Jarad Padalecki' thing. He wondered what happened to that universe. After all, Virgil had killed 'Misha' (Whether that was a name or not), and Sam honestly hoped that they were okay. He wasn't a bad person.

There was the sound of wings, and Sam turned to find Gabriel sitting in the chair in the corner of the room. He smirked at Sam. "I told you that it was a universe close to your own. Welcome home, Sammy. Sorry 'bout the bumpy ride." Sam shook his head, "No, it's fine. Just another adventure that I had to go on. It's nothing. I don't mind." On second thought, that might've been too much, "Really, though? Another universe? Couldn't you have just stepped in and, like, smited the witch or something like that?" Gabriel shrugged, slightly guiltily, "Who knows, it was the first thing I could think of."

Dean ran in, "Sammy! I heard voices, you'd disappeared and we couldn't find you!" Sam took one look at him, thought of their first universe, glanced over at Gabriel, and the both of Sam and Gabriel burst out laughing. Dean stood up straight, looking confused. "It's not funny, Sam, you disappeared. Where the Hell were you?" A voice echoed out from the hallway, "Did you find him, Dean? I heard your voice." This only succeeded in making the two laugh even harder. Cas did his squinty-eye-head-tilty think that he did when. They continued laughing, and Sam, true to his word, didn't explain any of it.


End file.
